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A M E M III A L 



1 ROM TUB 



CITY OF MILWAUKEE, 



ON J1IK SUBJECT OF A. 




AM* AN 



ARSENAL. 



M I L W A U K E E : 
STARR & SON, PRINTERS, 212 and 214 EAST WATER STREET. 

1861. 



A M E M R I A L 



PROM THE 



y 



CITY OF MILWAUKEE, 



ON THE SUBJECT OF A 




[III 




fftMf§ 






ARSENAL 



R SON, PRINTERS, '1Y1 and 214 EAST WATER STREET 

1861. 



A M E M O R I A L 

OF THE CITY OF MILWAUKEE, ON THE SUBJECT 

OF A NAVAL DEPOT, AN ARMORY 

AND AN ARSENAL. 



In compliance with the resolution of your honorable body, re 
quiring the undersigned to draft a memorial on the subject of vn 
United States Armory, Arsenal and a Navy Depot, we submit the 
following 

M E MORTAL: 

That the great North-West, with its 8,000,000 inhabitants, its 
immense Lake and River Commerce and its Granaries, from which 
so much of the civilized world is supplied, requires facilities 
for defence far greater than any now existing, is a proposition 
hard'y requiring an argument. 

Whatever may be said of the power of Cotton as influencing 
the conduct of Foreign Nations towards us, the power of food 
(which, in times of famine, can be furnished by the North-West 
alone,) is still greater. The tables of exports from the United 
States for the last year, show how much of the financial health of 
our country during the period of Rebellion, has been due to the 



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products of the West. Yet in the whole North-West there is not 
a single armory, and upon all the great Lakes, bu learned 

vessel, and that bearing only one gun. A Avar with England— an 
event certainly to be deprecated, but which prudence requires us 
to prepare for — would drive from the Lakes the immense Com- 
merce, which now not only supplies food to the East, but by 
bringing back to us the products of their manufactures, gives em- 
ployment to laborers there. The extent of this Commerce may be 
conjectured from the fact, that from the single Port of Milwaukee, 
there has been shipped in wheat (and in flour reduced to wheat) 
nearly 17,000,000 bushels during the past year. The interrup- 
tion of navigation upon the Lakes would force us either to find 
an outlet by the way of the Mississippi, if by that time Rebellion 
shall have been crushed, or to seek the East by routes sa indirect 
and expensive, us almost to exclude the idea of large exporta- 
tions. Pennsylvania, New York and New England would hard- 
ly, from such an event, sutler less than the West. It has been 
well urged, that if at the same time, England and the South should 
jointly war with us, and while !ngl%nd should command Lake 
Erie with her fleet, the South should push her armies up through 
Western Virginia and across tin- Ohio, there might be danger 
of an entire interruption of communication between the East and 
the West. This danger is doubtless remote, but even the possi- 
bility should be guarded against. Our conclusion then is, that 
at every cost, the United States should have control over the 
Lakes. The common impression, that from the mere fact of a 
vast superiority of our commerce and merchant marine on the 
Lakes, we could create a navy much sooner than our neighbor, 
is not altogether sound. Our treaty with England— equal, at the 



time it was made — has been rendered most unequal by the con- 
struction within her own waters of the Welland Canal. While 
each party is nominally limited by the treaty to one vessel on 
each Lake, England can by her control over that canal, introduce 
at once any number of small gun boats. In fact, for practical 
purposes of naval marine, that canal makes the Lake, to the Eng- 
lish navy, a part of the Ocean. 

Long before our merchant propellers and steamers could be 
made available for war purposes, the Lakes would be swarming 
with English gun boats of small size, but still of draught suffici 
ent for operating upon our waters. It may well be urged that as 
the treaty was made with reference to waters owned by the United 
States and England in common, it caunot apply to Lake Michigan, 
which is wholly within the United States. But even if this 
should be held otherwise, and if Government should be unwilling 
to give the six months notice necessary under the treaty, to ab- 
rogate that provision, it would still be judicious to have a naval 
depot at one of the ports of Lake Michigan, at which such means 
for fitting out a navy might be collected, as would involve the 
least possible delay, in event of a war. If (as each ol us should 
hope) there should be no war with England, this naval depot 
would still be useful. 

The Welland Canal could be made as available for us in times 
of peace with England, as to her in time of war. In no part of 
the country are materials for ship-building more easily procured, 
or cheaper ; our shipwrights may, in workmanship, well challenge 
competition; and Lake navigation, land-locked as it is, requires 
far more skill, and trains the sailor to far greater vigilance and 
caution than does navigation on the broad expanse of the ocean. 



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Gnn-boats of light draft, but of the best possible construction, 
may here be built, and manned with sailors inferior to none in the 
world ; they could then be sent to the ocean ready for immediate 
service. Connected with the naval depot should be an armory 
and an arsenal. But as this subject has already received the at- 
tention of Government, and the President has favorably men. 
tioned it in his message, any lengthy discussion of it here will be 
unnecessary. 

If Congress should conclude to establish a naval depot, an ar 
mory or an arsenal, at any point in the North-West, the next 
question will be where to locate it. 

We hold that such location must be not far from Lake Michi 
gan, for the foil awing reasons : 

1st. Because, considered in regard to the whole North-West, 
it is nearly central. 

2d. Because it. is wholly within the United States, and its ports 
are susceptible of defence at small expense, against any attack 
by water. 

3d. Because it is so far remote from the locality of the present 
Rebellion as to be free from danger from that quarter. 

4th. liecouse by means of water communication and the nu- 
merous railroads radiating from its various ports, facilities are 
afforded in a pre-eminent degree for cheap and rapid transporta- 
tion of arms, ammunition and troops, to all other parts of the 
North-West. 

The location of a Naval Depot has been settled by nature. 
For that purpose a harbor, which may safely be entered in the 
most violent storm, and capacious enough to accommodate a uu- 



nacrous fleet, is absolutely necessary ; and Milwaukee has the 
only harbor on Lake Michigan, answering this description. Here 
two rivers, the Milwaukee and Menominee, and the Kinnikinniek 
stream conjoin to form a basin, which would accommodate all the 
commerce of the Lakes ; a broad Bay, protected on the north 
and south by points of land extending into the Lake, renders less 
difficult the entrance into the harbor in bolstering weather. And 
one of the two mouths of the harbor itself has been so improved 
at the expense of the city, as to be the best on either of the 
Lakes. 

The Milwaukee River, broad and deep, and protected on each 
side of land gradually rising into high bluffs, which break the vio- 
lence of the winds, is navigable to the dam : the Menominee, not 
so broad, but in other respects equally good, can be navigated for 
about one and a half miles : the Kinnikinniek, at its confluence 
with the other, near the south mouth of the Harbor, aids in the 
formation of the magnificent basin before referred to. 

This suggests another advantage possessed by Milwaukee, and 
which, while the national wealth is taxed to its utmost to put 
down Rebellion, is of no small importance — we refer to the low 
price at which suitable grounds can be purchased. 

From the extent of our harbor facilities, and of the ground 
touched by navigable water, which would enable Milwaukee to ac- 
commodate the commerce of all the Lake cities put together, suit 
able lands for a Naval Depot may be purchased at a small 
cost. 

Chicago, fortunate in its larger population and more extended 
commerce, but unfortunate in its smaller harbor and in the danger- 
ous access to it, already finds its narrow stream taxed to the ut- 



8 

most ; it would be safe to affirm that no suitable place for a Naval 
Depot or an Armory could be purchased there for less than mil- 
lions, and that such purchase would operate to the serious detri- 
ment of its general commerce, now so hardly accommodated. 

If it be there proposed to donate grounds on the Lake shore to 
government, the cost will be even greater, for Government would 
not only be forced to construct a breakwater, or in other words, 
manufacture an artificial harbor in order to have access to the 
grounds, but would yearly be at enormous expense for repairing. 

The same argument applies to an Armory ; it should be at a 
point where coal, iron and other materials could be immediately 
delivered from vessels ; great expense in the way of re-handling 
and transportation would be involved in the fact of any other 
location. 

If a position too remote from the Lake to be in danger from 
hostile vessels should be desired, the winding Menominee affords 
such position completely screened by high bluff's from the Lake, 
but which on nearly every side would be surrounded by naviga- 
ble water. 

WATER-POWER. 

The dam across the Milwaukee River at about '2 miles from 
its mouth, creates a fine water power, which, if desirable, might 
be made available for mechanical purposes connected with the 
A rmory. 

CHEAPNESS OF MATERIALS. 

There is no point on the Lakes at which materials necessary 
either for erecting shops, building ships or manufacturing arms, 
rt.i be more cheaply procured than at Milwaukee. 



MATERIALS FOR BUILDING. 
Milwaukee has long been famous for the quality and beauty of 
her brick; there is no considerable city on the Lakes, which has 
not been a purchaser of them to some extent ; in our exports 
they have formed no inconsiderable item ; made within the limits 
of the city, they can be delivered here at any point at a price 
much lower than that which must be given for brick of like qual- 
ity at any other port. Stone, too, may be easily obtained within 
three miles from the city, from inexhaustible quarries. 

SHIP TIMBER AND LUMBER. 

Situate in a country covered with timber of all kinds, easi- 
ly accessible to vessels from Northern Michigan, and the lum- 
ber regions of Wisconsin; with harbor facilities, which render 
the actual landing of timber here both safe and cheap, Milwau- 
kee can furnish ship-timber and lumber at as low rates as any 

other place. 

CHARCOAL. 

For a like reason Charcoal must always be cheaper here than 

at places south of it. The belt of timber which commencing in 

the extreme North runs out about 20 miles south of Milwaukee, 

leaves a prairie or low country beyond, almost destitute of 

timber. 

COAL. 

The numerous vessels employed in carrying East from Milwau- 
kee the products of Wisconsin, frequently return in ballast and 
generally are willing to receive coal at tho ports on Lake Erie 
and brin"- it here at a price little beyond the cost of loading and 
unloading it; coal may therefore practicably bo had as cheaply 



10 

here as at Erie, Cleveland and Buffalo, and more cheaply than at 

any port south of us. 

IRON. 

Those' portions of Wisconsin and Michigan constituting the 
south shose of Lake Superior, furnish iron equal to any in 
the world; and that iron can be procured at Milwaukee as cheap- 
ly as at any port on Lake Michigan. Iron from the Eastern 
States can be brought here by water at small cost; the Mayville 
iron in our own State is but a short distance from Milwaukee, 
and upon the route of the Milwaukee & La Crosse R. R. It 
will be of the greatest value both because the quantity is great, 
and because the whole surrounding couutry is covered with tim- 
ber, and charcoal to work it can be had there at a very low price. 

But pre-eminently over all other cities on the Lakes, Milwau- 
kee can boast of the health of its climate, the skill of its mechan- 
ics, the cheapness of living and the consequent cheapness of labor. 

In no part of the United States can men live so cheaply, and 
yet with comfort, as here; comfortable houses can be rented at 
low prices, and the neighborhood of Milwaukee entirely free from 
waste marshes, is occupied to a great degree by laborious gardi- 
ners, who make our market one of the best and cheapest in the 
world. We, of course, do not refer to the cereals, because al- 
though the advantage in quality in that respect is somewhat in 
favor of Milwaukee; prices are necessarily about equal at all 
points on the lake. * But we refer to those articles purchased at 
the market and which form the staple food of the laboring class. 
For this reason mechanics of all kinds can afford to work here 
at much lower rates than in most of our Sister Cities. Out of 
our population of 50,000 inhabitants, they form an important 



11 

portion; and Milwaukee is justly proud of them. We will add 
that the first locomotive ever constructed in the West was made 
here. The healthfulness of Milwaukee is a matter of too much 
notoriety to require extended notice. With ground rising grad- 
ually from the water, so as at once to secure convenient business 
streets and healthful locations for residences; entirely free from 
the neighborhood of those wide marshes, which too frequently in 
the West poison the- atmosphere; with a system of drainage es- 
tablished by nature, which in the warm months relieves the streets 
entirely of those stenches which sometimes render other cities 
intolerable; its inhabitants have had an exemption from disease 
enjoyed by few on the continent. 

Nor is Milwaukee less fortunate in its position, or in the means 
of transportation. A glance at the map of the North- West will 
show Milwaukee to be nearly central in that group of States ; 
and situated on the great Northern route from the Mississippi to 
the East, with a harbor from which each day during the cold 
months of winter, propellers and steamers have during the past two 
years crossed the Lake — she has in that respect advantages not 
shared by rivals. By means of the Milwaukee and La Crosse 
Railroad, she has the Northern and direct connection with Min- 
nesota ; by means of the Milwaukee and Prairie du Chien with 
Iowa ; by means of the Milwaukee, Green Bay and Chicago 
Railroad, with Chicago and her system of Railroads, and by 
means of other South- Western connections, with Central and 
Western Illinois. As water is so much cheaper than land car- 
riage, and as Milwaukee through its position on the Lake and its 
harbor, has so great a pre-eminence in water carriage, that alone 
should almost determine the question in its favor. 



12 

It is hardly necessary to urge economy as well as convenience, 
as a reason why an Armory, Arsenal and Naval Depot should be 
united at one place ; this is too apparent to require comment, and 
we have accordingly treated the whole as one proposition. 

It may be proper in conclusion, without impeaching the justice 
of the intentions of Congress, to call their attention to the man_ 
ner in which Wisconsin has been treated by the general govern- 
ment. Hers has rather been the share of a step-child, than of a 
legitimate child of the Union. Charleston, Savannah, Mobile 
and various other places on the Eastern and Southern coast, less 
than Milwaukee in population, and far less important in com- 
merce, have never asked appropriations for harbor improvements 
or defences, without a favorable response from Congress ; even 
most of the harbors in other States on the Lakes, have been im- 
proved or constructed by Congress. 

But the Lake ports of Wisconsin have been compelled, out of 
their own means, (which in young cities just straggling into com- 
mercial importance, are naturally limited,) to improve their own 
harbors, The harbor at Chicago, from the mere fact of being al- 
most the extreme South port, is necessarily local in its use ; yet 
it has been constructed at the expense of the government ; the 
harbor of Milwaukee, from its position and capacity may be a 
place of refuge in a storm to all vessels on the Lake ; it adds to 
the safety of the commerce of all the bordering States — in other 
words, in its usefulness it is not merely local but national ; yet 
Milwaukee was compelled out of its own treasury, and at an ex" 
pense of over $260,000, to improve their harbor. 

Of all the States included within the Virginian grant, and 
whose rights of admission were defined by the Ordinance of 



13 

1787, Wisconsin was the youngest. The difficulties between 
Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Illinois, on the sabject of bounda- 
ries, were all settled and compensated by spoliation of Wis- 
consin. 

Galena, and even Chicago itself, would have belonged to Wis- 
consin, but for compensation to Illinois ; and geography is out- 
raged by Michigan's crossing the Lake and taking a portion of the 
shore of Lake Superior (having no interest in common with it) 
as Compensation for a difference between it and Ohio 

When Wisconsin was a Territory under the guardianship of 
Congress, a grant was made to aid in the construction of a canal 
from Milwaukee to Rock River — but as was to have been expect- 
ed from the half grown legislation of that period — the grant was 
chiefly wasted, and no canal was built ; yet by the act admitting 

Wisconsin into the Union, and by the construction of the de- 
partment, that grant was charged to the new State as so much re- 
ceived by it and to be accounted for by it ; or in other words, 
the guardian charges the ward when of age, the waste by un- 
thrift occasioned by the guardian himself. 

Of the other grants made by Congress to the State, little fa- 
vorable can be said. The North-Eastern, procured by Chicago 
and Illinois influence, belongs to the Chicago and North- Western 
Railroad Co. ; and if of little value in itself, it has facilitated the 
construction of a road to give to Chicago that commerce and to 
Illinois that wealth, which otherwise would have been retained 
in Wisconsin ; the title to the lands included in the North-West- 
ern land grant, has, under influences hostile to the commerce of 
Wisconsin, been retained by the general government ; and the 
Milwaukee and La Crosse Road has been built without receiving 
any portion ol the grant. The only remaining grant to Wiscon- 



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sin was to aid the construction of the Fox River and Wisconsin 
Canal. If that lias bei n of some benefit to the State, the grant 
was nevertheless loaded with such conditions, that while it in fact 
took no dollar from the treasury of the United States, it with- 
drew from market and settlement largo tracts of country, and 
lias failed to accomplish for the Stale much that was expected 
from it. The above comprises the list of special favors from the 
General Government to Wisconsin. 

In alluding to Chicago, we have been influenced by the fact 
that she is the only competitor on the Lake, and some compari- 
son was necessary. Milwaukee has shown none of those feelings 
of jealousy and hostility so often manifested by her great and 
older Commercial Rival. Content with a growth in commerce, 
in population, and in wealth, that lias kept pace with the growth 
of Wisconsin, Minnesota and Northern Iowa, Milwaukee has re- 
garded with pride, as a North-Western city, the wonderful pro- 
gress of Chicago, and has witnessed with admiration the united 
effect of government patronage and individual enterprise in over- 
coming natural difficulties, and in building- up over places more 
fortunately situated, a great city. The touch of Government 
there has in creative power, rivalled Aladdin's Lamp, and out of 
the waste produced palaces, population, commerce, wealth. But 
this result is due as much to the enterprise of her people, their 
united action on all questions affecting her, and their constant 
and jealous watchfulness over all her interests, as to the action 
of government as represented by her harbor, by the Canal 
connecting Chicago and Illinois River, by the Illinois Central R. 
R., and by that uniform government policy (inducted by Douglas 
and other representatives of the local interests of Illinois) con- 
stantly favoring her growth. But we insist that all parts of the 



15 

Union are equally entitled to the protection and favor of govern- 
ment, and that we may well refer in a question of this kind 
(where the advantage's of location on our side are at least equal,) 
to the benefits bestowed on other States and Cities, and the cold- 
ness with which wo have been treated. If we were not conscious 
that the great objects of an Armory, an Arsenal and a Naval 
Depot, would be advanced by a location in Milwaukee, we would 
not urge this argument. We made no claim to a Marine Hos- 
pital (now established at Chicago,) because the greatest commer- 
cial city presented advantages for such an institution. 

But under the policy of Congress, Armories and Naval Depots 
should not necessarily be located in the greatest cities, as evi- 
denced by Watervleit, Springfield and Harper's Ferry as to 
Armories, and by Charleston, Brooklyn and Norfolk as to Naval 
Depots. A city like Milwaukee, with 50,000 inhabitants, with 
skilful mechanics, where living and labor are cheap and materials 
easily procured, is large enough for such purposes. 

And we claim that under these circumstances we may fairly 
point to past legislation in order to show that we are in justice 
now entitled to some consideration. 

JAMES S. BROWN, 
HARRISON LUDINGTON, 
NELSON WEBSTER, 
J. C. U. N IE DERM ANN. 



